Werewolf Academy

Chapter XXIV

Too soon it was.

Ranks were formed just three days later. Wolves, rogues, and assassins one either side were ready to pounce. A call went out and lines clashed, I began in my human form, slicing through figure after figure. Snarling and screams rang out but my only focus was finding him.

Tonight The Master would loose both his title and his life.

I had no doubt he would be here. While he had made me target number one for everyone working for him, deep down he wanted to take my life on his own. I easily dodged my targets. Some I recognized with ease, others I don't take time to try. When the lines became thicker with wolves I shifted, leaving my weapons behind me. Four paws hit the ground and I continued tearing into my enemies. With a pack to help me train in this form I had greatly improved.

The rouge wolves' blood was foul on my tongue and stuck to my fur unpleasantly. It only spurred me on. I claimed assassins in this form too, puncturing arteries with my teeth I had been bred to sever with my blades. That dark pleasure was still inside me. It always would be. I had no hesitation or worry that I'd kill my own. We all felt each other as a pack. We all felt our losses, as few as they had been so far.

A new feeling washed over me as I ripped into another rogue's throat. A black-coated female I could have so easily been like. I was called back to the pack house, as if by some dark power. I felt confusion and even occasional sparks of betrayal as I turned to face my own side. That betrayal fell away as I met their eyes, showing my dedication, as vicious as I may have looked in that moment in time.

I raced to the pack house, moving to the upper level to grab clothing. I shifted in a flash grabbing the first shirt and pants I could find, strapping my favorite blades to my hips. For this, I felt I needed them. I nearly fall as I run back down the stairs, barely seeing curious children's faces as I rush past their bedroom windows. And there he was. In the main living room he patiently stood, a smirk on his lips as he waited for me to find him.

Bastard.

"Didn't have time to clean the blood out of your hair this time, my dear?" He stalked towards me. "I was beginning to worry you wouldn't find me." I kept my face expressionless, not bothering with a retort. "Just as a taught you. Just as I made you." I let him brush his thumb along my face. "My second in-command. A cold, black-hearted bitch. Flawless.

"And then you went soft."

For some reason that word still irked me. I tried to stop it but I couldn't.

I flinched.

He caught it.

His chuckle seemed to fill the room. "The darkness still breathes." He circled me as a lion would a gazelle. A cat hunting a mouse. "Some part of you is still mine. If you come—"

"No."

He paused his predatory movement. Then began again. "You seem so sure of yourself, my dear. Tell me, was your mate, his pack, not sickened by you when they heard of your alias? Do you truly see a Luna in yourself?"

"Until I stare into the face of death." His hand whipped upwards but my blades were out of their sheaths, ready to block his deadly blow. "That won't be today, Master."

"We shall see, Selina," he retorted, amusement lacing his voice.

I could have shifted there and torn his throat out, claiming his life in the form I had come to love. But I didn't. He needed to see that his protégé was prepared to use his own skills to kill him. We danced, testing one another's balance, strengths, weaknesses, and more. He seemed invincible. He knew me better. I twisted and he cut into my right shoulder. I bit back the pain, glaring.

"First blood to me," he taunted. "I built you, my dear. I made the darkness bloom inside you. I know your weaknesses, your strengths, every tendency you possess because they were all created by or reported to me." He lunged for my right side and I moved to dodge. He still tore fabric and sliced skin. Damn, I hated stitches. "You forget to guard your right side when you get too angry."

I blocked out the pain, relying more on my left now while still protecting my right. I had yet to land a blow. We continued our dance, silence only broken by our blades clashing. I was his strongest. His most cunning follower. He was wearing me down. Taking every tiny opening I gave him to bring me to my knees. I would continue fighting. I am an assassin and a Luna. Neither begs for mercy.

"Do you want to know my favorite?" I only glare as he stepped in closer with a fierce blow I blocked with a hiss of pain. My shoulder burned like hell. "You came back from your third mission covered in your targets blood with a dead left leg, refusing to let Michael hold you. You still knelt before me as you were taught. You're eyes looked as if they held emerald flames. You were a flawless servant to me.

"A stubborn one too. You wouldn't stay off that leg even under my physician's orders. Because of that, if you hit it just right..." I collapsed, a whimper passing my lips when I landed on my bad shoulder. My energy had been drained with each new slash. He sneered, kicking my blades away from me. "Pathetic. Foolish. You may have been my champion, but you will never best me." He bent over, hoisting me onto my feet. "Yes, Selina—Adalynn—Whatever you may call yourself—" I felt the tip of a blade at my stomach and gasp. "—tonight you will greet death."

I tried to summon my wolf. Tried to pull away from the monster holding me.

But it was too late. The next time I hit the floor a blade had punctured my stomach. I thought I was delusional as I saw his form change. He too was a wolf. Was that why the rogues joined him? The black and brown beast stood over my body and I felt a single tear trail down my face. Excruciating pain, humiliation, and fear was all pressing in at once.

I was ready for my claiming.

But it never came. Another wolf, nearly identical to the first leaped over my body, tackling my enemy to the floor. He was bigger, stronger. The last thing I saw was the second wolf's bloody maw clench down on The Master's exposed throat.